


Burning Hearts

by BrownieFox



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!, Motorcity
Genre: Gen, Kinda?, With flames, but also like, characters will be added as they come up, origins?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-25
Updated: 2018-08-25
Packaged: 2019-07-02 12:39:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15796707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrownieFox/pseuds/BrownieFox
Summary: In which in Motorcity, there are Dying Will Flames and it's a miracle the whole place hasn't burned down yet.Chapter 1: Mike comes down, Jacob sees his potential, and Chuck follows Mike like he always does





	Burning Hearts

All that Mike had from Deluxe was whatever he’d had on his back when he first came down. White and blue clothes, his own identification card, thick-soled boots. He hadn’t been  _ planning _ to stay down in Motorcity, afterall. If it wasn’t for the fact that many of the motorcity citizens (motorcitizens?) were kind to new people and were able to direct him to places with water and food and work, Mike didn’t hesitate to think he would’ve died. He didn’t know what was edible at the time, what water wasn’t polluted and toxic, and it was pure luck he didn’t wander into hostile gang territory.

“Anybody would be happy to have you in their gang.” Someone had commented when Mike had expressed the worry. An old lady who needed help cleaning her house and was willing to give food and shelter for a day. Neighborhood Grandma. “A ring like yours sells for a lot down here, and the skill to use it even more.”

Mike had been half-tempted to throw the ring into the depths of Motocity trash. Kane had given it to him, given it to  _ Commander Chilton _ , and every time Mike looked at it it reminded him of where he came from. But Mike knew rings like these were hard to come by, and so he kept it. For the handful of nights after he’d defected and before Jacob had found him, Mike would try to light the electric-green flames and find that he couldn’t dredge up enough purpose to do so.

Jacob gave him a job, a car, and a home. When kanebots blew through city-streets and Jacob showed Mike how to use the special gadgets in Mutt, Jacob gave Mike a purpose and something that rekindled the dying will inside of him.

But most importantly, Jacob gave Mike his Burners. 

oOo

All Jacob needed to see was the green ring on the cadet’s hand to know that the cadet didn’t know. Sky flames were rare and came with the expectation that the one wielding them would be a leader. Nobody demonstrated that better than Foxy. There was no way Kane would tell a sky what they were.

But apparently Kane would still try and use the sky in any way he could though.

Jacob was flameless, but nobody could sense dying wills like he could. He’d started his short hunt for the desperate and loud sky flames, yearning for the comfort of the other elements, on the same day he heard about the destruction of the Black Widow District. Kane’s troops, down with a wrecking ball, tearing away at Motorcity. Jacob heard too late, unable to get over there with Sasquatch and give them a piece of his mind. It was a tragedy, but it also led to him finding Mike.

The scraggly cadet who obviously hadn’t taken a shower in a few days. He was helping someone haul parts from a trash heap to their house. The bright, hot, warm sky flames that Jacob had felt days ago had nearly vanished completely by the time he found Mike, lying quiet and unused under his skin. The lightning, on the other hand, seemed to almost charge the air around Mike. It was clear he had trained those.

But even if Jacob had come across Mike and found a flameless boy, he would’ve taken him in.

oOo

“Uh, Jacob, about the jacket…”

Jacob looked up from the car he was working on. She’d been sitting in the garage for a while, mostly a side project that he’d bee steadily working on. Now, though, he finally had a driver in mind for her, and it was time for this project to be finished. Mike was standing off to the side, holding in his arms the jacket Jacob had placed nicely on top of the pile of clothes.

“What about it?” Jacob asked, futilely wiping his hands on his just-as-filthy pants.

“Well, it’s really nice and all, but,” Mike adjusted it so that the accents were clear for Jacob to see. “It’s got orange on it.”

“So?” Jacob cocked an eyebrow, knowing exactly where this was going.

“Well, in Deluxe,” Mike winced a bit as he said it, as if he could already tell how stupid he sounded but had to say it anyway. Deluxe did that to people. Kane did that to people. “We only got to wear our white, blue, and our flame color if necessary. I’m a lightning, so-”

“You’re not in Deluxe anymore, kid. You can wear any color you want.”

“The Skylark’s don’t.” Mike pointed out. “They have ties in their flame color. And the Amazons wear flame-matching jumpsuits.”

“And your car is going to be green, yes a lot of people  _ do  _ wear their flames.” Jacob conceded. “But it’s a good jacket, and if it’s too big for me then at least you can get some use out of it. This is Motorcity, Mike. You can’t just run out and get a new uniform whenever you want. Keep the jacket.”

Jacob watched as Mike’s brow furrowed and then he nodded, slipping the jacket on it. The jacket suited Mike. Jacob had yet to tell Mike about his other flames. It didn’t really matter, anyway. As long as the kid could fight, he would be fine. Still, it felt only fair to dress Mike in something to warn others of his potential.

oOo

“He got separated from his squad. The people down in the sewer of Motorcity probably dragged him away. If not, he’s lost and he’ll starve. I wouldn’t keep hoping he’s alive.”

That’s what the man in a uniform told Chuck. What Kane Co told Chuck through a man in a uniform.

Chuck didn’t believe that for a second though. 

Yes, his heart did skip a beat when the squadron that had been sent down, led by Mike, came back up without him. But dragged away? Dead? Not Mike Chilton, not Mikey. Something within Chuck screamed at the lie in the sentence, knowing with a surety that Mike was alive. That Chuck had to find Mike. Two weeks after Mike disappeared, Chuck gathered all of his courage and a bag of supplies: water, clothes, tasteless food cubes, some basic computer supplies, and a plasma wrench. The wrench wasn’t the most ideal weapon, but it was the best thing Chuck could get his hands on.

“This is stupid, oh god why am I doing this?” Chuck muttered to himself the entire trek down into Motorcity. There were always dim lights in Deluxe, even at night, leaving the world with a soft and comforting glow. In Motorcity the glow was reduced to sparking wires, small bulbs strung along the pathway down. He can’t help but to wonder who put them there, if the purpose was just for people like him, leaving Deluxe. 

Chuck stopped  as the tunnel opened up into the ‘underground’ cave that was the rest of Motorcity. Separating the tunnel from Motorcity was a mesh of red lasers. There was more than enough space between the laser to walk through, and Chuck barely gave the city a glance before running over to one of the panels controlling the gate Tech he’d never worked before, never seen before, Mike momentarily forgotten. New and at his fingertips.

The power-usage of the barrier was  _ ridiculous _ . Sure it was giant and constantly maintaining a laser field, but it was clearly cobbled together. But, if Chuck could clean up some of the messy and obviously hasty coding… And what must the inside of this thing look like? 

By the time Chuck heard the crescendoing, rumbling roar behind him, he had managed to cram himself inside of the now-open control module. He was so tangled in wires that he had been trying to  _ un _ tangle that he was unable to get loose before the cars were upon him. 

It was the first time he’d ever seen an active car. He’d seen cars before, yes, usually fancy ones, but only for short amounts of time. They were quickly burned. Car burnings were far from Chuck’s favorite kind of events, but at least they were something new from the dull drone of Deluxe life. Seeing them in action was something else though. Even through panic and with wires obscuring his vision, they’re a sight to behold. Sleek, black, amazing maneuverability. If they weren’t heading straight for Chuck, he might’ve even found them cool.

They pulled up, wheels screeching, and Chuck squirmed more desperately in the wires, realizing he wasn’t making any headway but not knowing what else to do. He was also screaming. He stopped doing both once the drivers of the cars got out and pointed guns at him. The guns were the main reason he shut up, of course, but their appearance also surprised him. He’d always been taught and told that Motorcitizens were dirty filthy monsters. These men were dressed in suits that matched the cars - sleek, black, sophisticated. There were five of them, two with blue ties, two with purple, and one with green.

“Stop where you are, Deluxian!”

They managed to untangle him, but before Chuck could even consider whether or not to thank them, they’d taken his bag, tied his wrists together, and shoved Chuck into the back of a car. He was freaking out once again, screaming as the car barreled over trash piles and through filthy roads, but the driver didn’t react. And yet even as Chuck freaked out, there was something in his chest that eased with every mile farther into Motorcity. Like something deep inside knew he was getting closer to the one he was looking for.

When they’d come to a stop and gotten out of the cars, a purple tie and the green tie flanked either side of him while the two blues walked in the back and a purple led the way. It gave Chuck a view of one of their back, where he could clearly see a number 10 in clear white. This was still a Very Not Good The Motorcitizens Are Going To Kill And Eat Me situation, but somehow in the midst of it Chuck had somehow managed to calm down. He couldn’t help but to wonder if the tie colors had any meaning. 

“21, stop it, he’s dragging his feet enough as is, we don’t need him any slower.” 10 snipped from the front, and there was a grunted reply from behind him. One of the blue ties. 

“Do you want him panicking and screaming, or quiet and slow?” 21 shot back. 10 didn’t respond. “That’s what I thought.” 

Chuck blinked. Now that 10 mentioned it, Chuck did feel  _ way  _ too calm for this situation. And slow. That blink, for instance, was too slow. Chuck drew in a deep breath, blinking more and faster, trying to push past the haze in his head that he hadn’t noticed until now. He succeeded somewhat, managing to pick up his walking pace. Blue. Blue blue blue… there was something to that he knew there was something to that.

Flames. 

Dying will flames. 

Chuck inhaled sharply. It was one of those things they didn’t teach you much about in Deluxe. It wasn’t important unless you were apart of the military, and even then only the higher-ups had access to rings. Blue was rain flames. They had calming effects. Chuck had the feeling that if he wasn’t currently being smothered in said flames, he would be panicking over the fact that they were being used on him. As it was he could feel his breath quicken a bit, but the most he could manage was pushing through the haze a bit more. 

Eventually they reached some room, and 10 entered it while the two behind Chuck shoved him in afterwards. It closed behind him, and while there was still a bit of too much sluggishness to him, Chuck could feel the flames stop working their attribute on him. Now he could finally panic as he stared at a man (blue tie again) sitting in a chair, looking at Chuck through sunglasses. There was a man on either side of him, and Chuck knew with a surety that this was the leader. 

“So, what’s a Deluxian doing messing with the grid shield?” 

“O-oh was that what that was? Heh, I was- well you see there was this-” Chuck started rambling, and the man held up a hand to make him stop. Chuck’s teeth snapped together with a clack. He was shaking hard now, the last of the fog gone, and he looked at the two men flanking the boss fearfully. Purple tie and red tie. God what flames were those again? He couldn’t think straight oh god they were going to kill him and they toss his remains to the mutant rats down here. 

“Don’t make me bring a rain in here.” The boss threatened. At least, it was probably a threat. His voice barely fluctuated as he said it, perfectly calm and in control of his situation. Chuck tried to stop breathing so quickly. It wasn’t working very well. “Now tell: what. Did you do?”

“The coding was bad!” Chuck squeaked out. The boss raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. Waiting for Chuck to say more. “And-and-and the wiring, the wiring oh wow it was a mess, well I mean if you did then it was great I’m so sorry I shouldn’t have touched anything please just let me-”

“You were fixing it.” The boss cut him off and Chuck nodded vigorously. The boss motioned for red tie to lean down and whispered something in the other man’s ear. He in turn went over to a computer off to the side. For a moment there was nothing but the sound of red-tie (number 2, Chuck could now see) tapping away at the keyboard. The boss continued to stare at Chuck while Chuck did his best to look anywhere but at the other.

“He’s not lying.” 2 reported. “The system’s working faster and more productively than it was this morning.”

“Is it now?” The boss stood up and Chuck failed at his attempt to swallow down the lump in his throat. The boss stood before Chuck, and though he would be shorter than Chuck if the ex-Deluxian had been standing straight, Chuck still felt himself withering under the other’s gaze. This was it, this was going to be the call to burn him alive and hang his corpse outside of their base. 

The boss put out his hand. 

“I’m Rayon, leader of the Skylarks. Welcome to Motorcity.” Chuck gawked, mouth open, looking from the hand, to Rayon’s self-assured smark, and then back to the hand. Rayon looked amused by this. “You still shake hands in Deluxe, don’t you?”

“No- I mean yes, yes we do, we still shake hands Mr. or uh Sir uh Sir Skylar-”

“Rayon.” Rayon repeated. “Now, are you going to shake my hand and tell me your name, or not?”

“Of course, Sir.” Chuck grabbed the other’s hand and didn’t like how the other could now not only see him shaking, but feel it. “Chuck. That’s- that’s my name.”

“Do you think you can do what you did with the grid to the other barriers?” Chuck nodded, giving up on speaking. “Great. 3, give him a room and return anything you took from him. We’ll be heading to the next tunnel tomorrow morning. Be ready.”

Chuck allowed himself to be lead out of the room and into a much smaller, did-this-used-to-be-a-broom-closet room. 3 closed the door, but Chuck doesn’t hear it lock. It took him perhaps the better half of an hour in the room after he had really started to calm down - not artificial rain clam, real true clam - before it actually sunk in that he is still alive. The Skylarks hadn’t killed him yet. 

 

Rayon, true to his word, was there at what Chuck’s watch reports as being early morning, although what with being in a broom closet in Motorcity, there was no way to really tell time had even really passed except for two men bringing him what was probably dinner and then, after Chuck fell asleep and woke up, breakfast (both of which had tasted so  _ weird -  _ in fact they had  _ tasted at all _ ). The latter one Chuck had to scarf down while Rayon, 33, and 84 walked him back out of the building and to the cars. 84 almost had Chuck get in his car, but Rayon stopped him. 

“He rides with me.” Rayon said with that smirk. 84 nodded, and Chuck sat down nervously in the seat next to the Skylark boss. Neither of them talked for a long while, and Chuck swallowed down screams that tickled his throat as Rayon took a corner sharp and fast. “So, what brought you down to Deluxe?”

Chuck yelped, but quickly recovered.

“My friend came down here. I’m looking for him.” Chuck almost mentioned that said friend was also a recently appointed commander, but thought better of it.

“This kid got a name?” Rayon asked.

“Mike. Mike Chilton.” Rayon hummed in response, but didn’t seem to recognize the name. Chuck wasn’t entirely sure whether that was good or bad.

The place they pulled up to, another tunnel that lead back to Deluxe, was almost identical to the one that Chuck had been at before. Rayon gestured to it, leaning against his car, and Chuck went over to work.

The next few days passed in just about the same manner. Rayon stopped accompanying Chuck after the first time, and from then on it was just him, 33, and 84. They were usually quiet, and from what Chuck could tell were usually playing some kind of game on their holoscreens. At some point he asked why the Skylarks were being so nice to him, giving him a place to stay and food, and 33 laughed.

“Nice? We aren’t being nice. It’s a simple exchange of goods and services. You fix up the gates and keep Kane from getting down here, and we give you those things in return. Simple as that.”

On his fifth day down in Motorcity, Chuck found Mike. Or Mike found him. Or maybe they just found each other somehow. 

As Chuck returned from fixing up another gate, he was surprised to find Rayon standing outside of the Skylark’s base. He kept glancing at his watch and then looking out at the road. 

“Is he… waiting for us?” Chuck asked and 84 shook his head.

“Nah. ‘S probably jus’ watchin’ for a delivery.” Which was the first reminder Chuck had had that there were other people down here. Motorcity was not just Skylark Town. Skylark Nest?

There was a roar, louder and more fierce than the Skylark cars, and Chuck darted behind 84 as something green flew through the air, landing a little ways away from Rayon and skidding to a stop, the front of the car nearly touching Rayon. Rayon just took down at the car and then up at the windshield. 

“Cutting it a little close there, Jacob.” Rayon commented, tapping his watch as the passenger side door (‘shotgun’, Chuck had been told, was the correct terminology) opened up. Out stepped a tall, skinny, lanky man that more fit what Chuck had been told about Motorcity. His clothes looked old and worn and stained, long hair and big mustache that was probably illegal up in Deluxe. He was holding a box, and some movement near the Skylark base caught Chuck’s eyes. A Skylark holding a sleek - always sleek and black with the Skylarks - briefcase. “And did Sasquatch finally take one laser too many?”

“Nah, she’s at home. This girl ain’t for me.” Jacob patted the car’s hood. “And don’t blame me. My new delivery boy’s still learning how to drive - and we’re still on time.”

“Don’t think I’ll pay you full if this new boy of yours comes late.” Rayon replied. The driver-side door opened and then He stepped out. He had a fading bruise on his cheek, but looked just as Chuck remembered him, still exuding that selfassured not-quite-cockines. And seeing him just made something in side of Chuck sing. 

“Mikey?” Chuck stepped out from behind 84 and Mike looked at him. A grin split across his face, with a bit of confusion that was overruled by happiness.

“Chuckles!” Mike slid across the car hood, darted between the box and briefcase exchanging hands, and wrapped Chuck in a hug. Chuck could’ve stayed there forever, so relieved that Mike was alive and safe and apparently had a job. 

“Friend of yours?” Jacob asked and from here Chuck could see Rayon’s Smirk ™. 

“Yeah.” Mike pulled back, presenting Chuck to Jacob like Chuck was the best thing in the world. “My best friend.” 

And Chuck knew that at Mike’s right hand was where he belonged.


End file.
